James Q. Wilson
University of California, Los Angeles Pepperdine University
John J. DiIulio, Jr.
University of Pennsylvania
AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT
Institutions and Policies
H o u g h t o n M i f f l i n C o m p a n y B o s t o n N e w Y o r k
ELEVENTH EDITION
For Roberta, Matthew, Rebecca, Annie, and Bob. And Sarah
J.Q.W.
Dedicated to the memory of Aaron H. Crasner J.J.D.
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B R I E F C O N T E N T SP A R T I
The American System 1
1 The Study of American Government 2
2 The Constitution 16
3 Federalism 48
4 American Political Culture 75
5 Civil Liberties 93
6 Civil Rights 121
P A R T I I
Opinions, Interests, and Organizations 151 7 Public Opinion 152
8 Political Participation 172
9 Political Parties 190
10 Elections and Campaigns 222
11 Interest Groups 258
12 The Media 286
P A R T I I I
Institutions of Government 313 13 Congress 314
14 The Presidency 361
15 The Bureaucracy 403
16 The Judiciary 431
P A R T I V
The Politics of Public Policy 461 17 The Policy-Making Process 462
18 Economic Policy 485
19 Social Welfare 506
20 Foreign and Military Policy 524
21 Environmental Policy 555
P A R T V
The Nature of American Democracy 573 22 Who Governs? To What Ends? 574
iii
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C O N T E N T SPreface xiii
About the Authors xvi
P A R T I
The American System 1
★1 The Study of American Government 2 What Is Political Power? 4
What Is Democracy? 6
Is Representative Democracy Best? 7 How Is Political Power Distributed? 9 Is Democracy Driven by Self-Interest? 10 What Explains Political Change? 11 The Nature of Politics 12
★2 The Constitution 16 The Problem of Liberty 17
The Colonial Mind 18 The Real Revolution 19
Weaknesses of the Confederation 21 The Constitutional Convention 22
The Lessons of Experience 22 The Framers 23
The Challenge 25 The Virginia Plan 25 The New Jersey Plan 25 The Compromise 26
The Constitution and Democracy 27 Key Principles 28
Government and Human Nature 29 The Constitution and Liberty 30
The Antifederalist View 31 Need for a Bill of Rights 35 The Constitution and Slavery 35
The Motives of the Framers 37
Economic Interests at the Convention 37 Economic Interests and Ratification 38 The Constitution and Equality 39 Constitutional Reform: Modern Views 40
Reducing the Separation of Powers 40 Making the System Less Democratic 42 Who Is Right? 45
★3 Federalism 48
Why Federalism Matters 49 Governmental Structure 51
Federalism: Good or Bad? 52 Increased Political Activity 53 The Founding 54
A Bold, New Plan 54 Elastic Language 55
The Debate on the Meaning of Federalism 56 The Supreme Court Speaks 56
Nullification 58 Dual Federalism 58 State Sovereignty 59 Federal-State Relations 61
Grants-in-Aid 61
Meeting National Needs 63 The Intergovernmental Lobby 64
Categorical Grants Versus Revenue Sharing 65 Rivalry Among the States 66
Federal Aid and Federal Control 66 Mandates 67
Conditions of Aid 68 A Devolution Revolution? 69 Congress and Federalism 71
v
★4 American Political Culture 75 The Political Culture 76
The Political System 78 The Economic System 79
Comparing America with Other Nations 80 The Political System 80
The Economic System 82 The Civic Role of Religion 82 The Sources of Political Culture 83
The Culture War 85 Mistrust of Government 86 Political Tolerance 89
★5 Civil Liberties 93 Culture and Civil Liberties 95
Rights in Conflict 95 Cultural Conflicts 96
Applying the Bill of Rights to the States 98 Interpreting and Applying the First Amendment 98
Speech and National Security 99 What Is Speech? 101
Libel 101 Obscenity 101 Symbolic Speech 103 Who Is a Person? 104 Church and State 106
The Free-Exercise Clause 106 The Establishment Clause 107 Crime and Due Process 109
The Exclusionary Rule 110 Search and Seizure 112
Confessions and Self-Incrimination 114 Relaxing the Exclusionary Rule 114 Terrorism and Civil Liberties 115 Searches Without Warrants 117
★6 Civil Rights 121 The Black Predicament 122 The Campaign in the Courts 124
“Separate but Equal” 125
Can Separate Schools Be Equal? 125
Brown v. Board of Education 128 The Campaign in Congress 131
Racial Profiling 135 Women and Equal Rights 136
Sexual Harassment 138 Privacy and Sex 139 Affirmative Action 140
Equality of Results 140 Equality of Opportunity 141 Gays and the Constitution 146
P A R T I I
Opinions, Interests, and Organizations 151
★7 Public Opinion 152
Public Opinion and Democracy 153 What Is Public Opinion? 154
How Polling Works 155 How Opinions Differ 155
Political Socialization: The Family 156 Religion 157
The Gender Gap 158
Schooling and Information 159 Cleavages in Public Opinion 160
Social Class 161 Race and Ethnicity 161 Region 162
Political Ideology 163
Mass Ideologies: A Typology 164 Liberal and Conservative Elites 165 Political Elites, Public Opinion, and Public
Policy 167
★8 Political Participation 172 A Closer Look at Nonvoting 173 The Rise of the American Electorate 175
From State to Federal Control 175 Voter Turnout 179
Who Participates in Politics? 182 Forms of Participation 182
The Causes of Participation 183 The Meaning of Participation Rates 185
★9 Political Parties 190 Parties—Here and Abroad 191
Political Culture 194
The Rise and Decline of the Political Party 194 The Founding 194
The Jacksonians 195
The Civil War and Sectionalism 196 The Era of Reform 197
Party Realignments 198 Party Decline 200
The National Party Structure Today 201 National Conventions 203
State and Local Parties 206 The Machine 207 Ideological Parties 208 Solidary Groups 209 Sponsored Parties 209 Personal Following 210 The Two-Party System 210 Minor Parties 213
Nominating a President 215
Are the Delegates Representative of the Voters? 216 Who Votes in Primaries? 217
Who Are the New Delegates? 217 Parties Versus Voters 218
★10 Elections and Campaigns 222 Campaigns, Then and Now 223
Better or Worse? 224 Here and Abroad 226
Presidential Versus Congressional Campaigns 226 Running for President 227
Getting Elected to Congress 229 Primary Versus General Campaigns 231
Two Kinds of Campaign Issues 233 Television, Debates, and Direct Mail 234 Money 239
The Sources of Campaign Money 239 Campaign Finance Rules 240
Contents vii
A Second Campaign Finance Law 241 New Sources of Money 246
Money and Winning 246 Who Decides the Election? 247
Party 247
Issues, Especially the Economy 249 The Campaign 250
Finding a Winning Coalition 251 The Effects of Elections on Policy 253
★11 Interest Groups 258 Explaining Proliferation 259 The Birth of Interest Groups 260 Kinds of Organizations 263
Institutional Interests 263 Membership Interests 264 Incentives to Join 265 The Influence of the Staff 268
Interest Groups and Social Movements 268 The Environmental Movement 269 The Feminist Movement 269 The Union Movement 270 Funds for Interest Groups 271
Foundation Grants 271
Federal Grants and Contracts 271 Direct Mail 272
The Problem of Bias 272
The Activities of Interest Groups 274 Information 274
Public Support: The Rise of the New Politics 275 Money and PACs 277
The “Revolving Door” 278 Trouble 279
Regulating Interest Groups 281
★12 The Media 286
Journalism in American Political History 288 The Party Press 288
The Popular Press 289 Magazines of Opinion 291 Electronic Journalism 291 The Internet 293
The Structure of the Media 293 Degree of Competition 293 The National Media 294 Rules Governing the Media 296
Confidentiality of Sources 296 Regulating Broadcasting 297 Campaigning 298
Are the National Media Biased? 298 Government and the News 303
Prominence of the President 303 Coverage of Congress 303
Why Do We Have So Many News Leaks? 304 Sensationalism in the Media 305
Government Constraints on Journalists 307
P A R T I I I
Institutions of Government 313
★13 Congress 314
Congress Versus Parliament 315 The Evolution of Congress 319 Who Is in Congress? 322
Sex and Race 322 Incumbency 324 Party 325
Do Members Represent Their Voters? 327 Representational View 327
Organizational View 328 Attitudinal View 329 A Polarized Congress 329 The Organization of Congress:
Parties and Caucuses 331
Party Organization of the Senate 332 Party Structure in the House 333 The Strength of Party Structures 335 Party Unity 336
Caucuses 337
The Organization of Congress: Committees 338 The Organization of Congress:
Staffs and Specialized Offices 342
Tasks of Staff Members 342 Staff Agencies 342
How a Bill Becomes Law 343 Introducing a Bill 343 Study by Committees 346 Floor Debate—The House 349 Floor Debate—The Senate 350 Methods of Voting 351
Reducing Power and Perks 352 The Post-9/11 Congress 354
★14 The Presidency 361 Presidents and Prime Ministers 362 Divided Government 364
Does Gridlock Matter? 365 Is Policy Gridlock Bad? 366 The Evolution of the Presidency 366
Concerns of the Founders 367 The Electoral College 367
The President’s Term of Office 368 The First Presidents 368
The Jacksonians 369
The Reemergence of Congress 370 The Powers of the President 373 The Office of the President 375
The White House Office 375
The Executive Office of the President 377 The Cabinet 377
Independent Agencies, Commissions, and Judgeships 378
Who Gets Appointed 379 Presidential Character 381 The Power to Persuade 383
The Three Audiences 383 Popularity and Influence 384 The Decline in Popularity 385 The Power to Say No 388
Veto 388
Executive Privilege 389 Impoundment of Funds 390 Signing Statements 390
The President’s Program 391 Putting Together a Program 391 Attempts to Reorganize 393 Presidential Transition 395
The Vice President 395 Problems of Succession 396 Impeachment 397
How Powerful Is the President? 398
★15 The Bureaucracy 403
Distinctiveness of the American Bureaucracy 404 Proxy Government 405
The Growth of the Bureaucracy 406 The Appointment of Officials 406 A Service Role 407
A Change in Role 408
The Federal Bureaucracy Today 409 Recruitment and Retention 410 Personal Attributes 415
Do Bureaucrats Sabotage Their Political Bosses? 416
Culture and Careers 417 Constraints 418
Agency Allies 420
Congressional Oversight 421
The Appropriations Committee and Legislative Committees 421
The Legislative Veto 422
Congressional Investigations 423 Bureaucratic “Pathologies” 423 Reforming the Bureaucracy 425
★16 The Judiciary 431
The Development of the Federal Courts 433 National Supremacy and Slavery 435 Government and the Economy 437 Government and Political Liberty 438 The Revival of State Sovereignty 440 The Structure of the Federal Courts 440
Selecting Judges 441
The Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts 443
Contents ix
Getting to Court 446 Fee Shifting 447 Standing 447
Class-Action Suits 448
The Supreme Court in Action 449 The Power of the Federal Courts 451
The Power to Make Policy 451 Views of Judicial Activism 452 Legislation and the Courts 453 Checks on Judicial Power 454
Congress and the Courts 454 Public Opinion and the Courts 456
P A R T I V
The Politics of Public Policy 461
★17 The Policy-Making Process 462 Setting the Agenda 463
The Legitimate Scope of Government Action 464 Action by the States 466
Making a Decision 467
Majoritarian Politics: Distributed Benefits, Distributed Costs 469
Interest Group Politics: Concentrated Benefits, Concentrated Costs 469
Client Politics: Concentrated Benefits, Distributed Costs 470
Entrepreneurial Politics: Distributed Benefits, Concentrated Costs 471
The Case of Business Regulation 472 Majoritarian Politics 473
Interest Group Politics 474 Client Politics 475
Entrepreneurial Politics 477
Perceptions, Beliefs, Interests, and Values 479 Deregulation 480
The Limits of Ideas 481
★18 Economic Policy 485
How Reliable Are Projections About the Future? 487 The Politics of Economic Prosperity 487
What Politicians Try to Do 489 The Politics of Taxing and Spending 490 Economic Theories and Political Needs 491
Monetarism 491 Keynesianism 491 Planning 491
Supply-Side Tax Cuts 491 Ideology and Theory 492
“Reaganomics” 492
The Machinery of Economic Policy-Making 493 The Fed 494
Congress 495 Globalization 496 Spending Money 496 The Budget 497 Reducing Spending 498 Levying Taxes 499
The Rise of the Income Tax 500
★19 Social Welfare 506 Two Kinds of Welfare Programs 507 Social Welfare in the United States 509
Majoritarian Welfare Programs: Social Security and Medicare 511
Reforming Majoritarian Welfare Programs 515 Client Welfare Programs: Aid to Families with
Dependent Children 517
Majoritarian Versus Client Politics 518
★20 Foreign and Military Policy 524 Kinds of Foreign Policy 526
The Constitutional and Legal Context 527 Presidential Box Score 527
Evaluating the Power of the President 529 Checks on Presidential Power 531 The Machinery of Foreign Policy 532 Foreign Policy and Public Opinion 534
Backing the President 535 Mass Versus Elite Opinion 536
Cleavages Among Foreign Policy Elites 537 How a Worldview Shapes Foreign Policy 537 Political Polarization 540
The Use of Military Force 541 War in Iraq 542
The Defense Budget 543 Total Spending 543
What Do We Get with Our Money? 545 The Structure of Defense Decision Making 549
Joint Chiefs of Staff 549 The Services 550
The Chain of Command 550 The New Problem of Terrorism 550
★21 Environmental Policy 555 The American Context 557
Entrepreneurial Politics: Global Warming 559 Majoritarian Politics: Pollution from
Automobiles 560
Interest Group Politics: Acid Rain 562 Client Politics: Agricultural Pesticides 564 The Environmental Uncertainties 566 The Results 568
P A R T V
The Nature of American Democracy 573
★22 Who Governs? To What Ends? 574 Restraints on the Growth of Government 575 Relaxing the Restraints 576
The Old System 577 The New System 577
Consequences of Activist Government 580 The Influence of Structure 582
The Influence of Ideas 583
Appendixes A1
The Declaration of Independence A1 The Constitution of the United States A4 The Federalist No. 10 A21
The Federalist No. 51 A26
Presidents and Congresses, 1789-2006 A30
Glossary G1
Notes N1
Index I1
Photo Credits C1
Contents xi
T
his Eleventh Edition of American Government is, we think, our best edition ever—an author- itative but lively teaching tool that fits how this course can be taught most successfully. It is thor- oughly revised and redesigned to excite students’ in- terest about the latest in American politics while deepening their understanding about the subject’s enduring historical, constitutional, and institutional dimensions and its policy-making dynamics.As in past editions, we explain and illustrate not only who governs but also what difference—in poli- cies adopted or rejected—it makes who governs. Our new chapter-opening vignettes, landmark court deci- sions, new or updated tables and figures, mind- grabbing examples, and other refreshed features bring the Constitution more fully to life and show how American political culture matters in shaping govern- ment activities. We also show how the presidency and other United States government institutions compare with democratic institutions around the globe.
In order to clearly link all of the chapters to the central arguments of Chapter 1, “The Study of Amer- ican Government,” we once again begin each chapter with the questions “Who Governs?” and “To What Ends?”: We end each chapter with corresponding summaries (“Reconsidering Who Governs” and “Re- considering To What Ends”). The text reflects what has happened in American government since the publication of the Tenth Edition, and anticipates cer- tain developments that are still a few years in the offing. Timely updates include, among many others, examinations of the 2006 midterm congressional elections; Democratic leadership in the 110th Con- gress; the war in Iraq; ongoing debates on immigra- tion reform; and changes in campaign finance laws that apply to the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns.
Boxed items remain focused and clear. For ex- ample, the popular “What Would You Do?” boxes facilitate classroom discussion. Each highlights an
important policy question and briefly states the argu- ments for and against each option. Over half of the
“What Would You Do?” boxes are new to this edition.
“How Things Work” boxes give students an under- standing of such procedures in American politics as amending the Constitution, becoming a U.S. citizen, and becoming a Congressperson. “Politically Speak- ing,” “Trivia,” and “The ‘Rules’ of Politics” boxes are once again incorporated into the narrative of the text or are available online.
Thanks to the ever-evolving Internet, our students now have virtually limitless access to information on most subjects, including American government. Even when they are not searching for it or paying close at- tention, news, opinions, and entertainment concern- ing the latest in American politics stream into our lives. In some ways, this makes teaching and learning about our subject easier than it once was. But it also poses pedagogical challenges for instructors. Infor- mation is not knowledge. Instant analysis is no sub- stitute for in-depth study. Strong opinions are hollow unless they are rooted in serious reflections and criti- cal thinking.
Thus, each chapter ends with a Summary, carefully selected World Wide Web Resources, and classic and contemporary Suggested Readings that provide stu- dents with reference material and preparation for classroom lectures and examinations. Of course, the most important “examinations” will come later in their lives—lives that, we hope, will include ongoing and serious intellectual and civic interest in Ameri- can politics and government.
Learning and Teaching Ancillaries
The program for American Government, Eleventh Edition, includes a number of learning and teaching
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P R E F A C Exiii
aids. These ancillaries provide instructors with useful course management and presentation tools and help students get the most from their American Govern- ment course.
For the Instructor
The Instructor’s Resource Manual helps instructors plan their course, lectures, and discussion sections.
Jennifer Walsh (Azusa Pacific University) has inte- grated the IRM with the textbook. Elements new to this edition have been summarized, and the resources and references sections have been thoroughly updated.
The Test Item File, revised by P. S. Ruckman, Jr.
(Rock Valley College) contains over 4,000 multiple- choice, true/false, and essay questions for classroom use. HM Testing™, a computerized version of the Test Item File with flexible test-editing capabilities, is avail- able on a CD-ROM.
The Instructor Website features classroom presen- tation tools, including an online version of the In- structor’s Resource Manual, and a set of PowerPoint®
slides of key charts and graphs.
A newly revised State and Local Government Supplement, packaged with American Government, Eleventh Edition, offers material for those courses that include a unit on state and local politics.
Online Learning
Houghton Mifflin now offers three exciting options for online learning.
AmericansGoverning.org
Encourage in-class discussion through Americans Governing.org. This site provides online videos such as interviews, campaign ads, and short-form docu- mentaries; interactive simulations; and quality writ- ing and homework assignments. The site also helps students stay current with daily headlines from the Washington Post and the New York Times. An online Notebook allows instructors to track which assign- ments students have completed.
To learn more and to set up a course, visit americansgoverning.org.
Eduspace
Houghton Mifflin’s Eduspace for Wilson, American Government, provides a customizable course man- agement system powered by Blackboard along with interactive homework assignments that engage stu- dents and encourage in-class discussion. Assign- ments include gradable homework exercises, writing assignments, primary sources with questions, simu- lations with quizzing and discussion questions, and HM Interactives. Eduspace also provides a gradebook and communication capabilities, such as synchro- nous and asynchronous chats and announcement postings.
To learn more, visit www.eduspace.com Associated Press Partnership
HM NewsNow (powered by the Associated Press) Bring the news right into your classroom! Students and instructors alike may access a live newsfeed to the Associated Press by logging onto our textbook web- site. Better yet, take a class poll or engage in a lively debate related to these stories though our HM News- Now PowerPoint slides, which may be downloaded from our password-protected instructor website. No in-class internet connection required!
HM Interactives (powered by the Associated Press) These multimedia-learning tools walk students through the history of a present-day conflict or de- bate, and include visuals, animations, and questions for further discussion.
For the Student
The Student Handbook has been thoroughly updated by P. S. Ruckman, Jr. (Rock Valley College) to help students master the facts and principles of American Government and prepare for examinations. For each chapter, the handbook includes focus points, a study outline, key terms, notes about possible misconcep- tions, a data check, practice exam questions, and spe- cial application projects, as well as answers to all the chapter exercises (excluding the essay questions).
The Student Website offers easy access to chapter outlines, ACE self-quizzes, “What Would You Do?”
interactive simulations, and audio summaries of each chapter.
AmericansGoverning.org
Your instructor may assign online videos, interactive simulations, or writing and homework assignments from AmericansGoverning.org
A passkey for AmericansGoverning.org comes packaged with new copies of your textbook. To purchase access with a used book, please visit AmericansGoverning.org.
Acknowledgments
Our largest debt is to Professor Meena Bose of Hof- stra University who contributed vital ideas and as- sisted in revising each chapter.
Meena Bose holds the Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies at Hof- stra University. She is the author of Shaping and Signal- ing Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (1998), co-editor (with Rosanna Perotti) of From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H.W. Bush (2002), and co-editor (with Mark Landis) of The Uses and Abuses of Presidential Ratings (2003). Dr. Bose taught for six years at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she also served as Director of American Politics in Spring 2006. She earned her un- dergraduate degree in international politics from Penn State University (1990), and she received her master’s (1992) and doctoral (1996) degress in poli- tics from Princeton University.
A number of scholars reviewed the Tenth Edition and made useful suggestions for the Eleventh. They include Gregory Culver, University of Southern Indi- ana; Terri Fine, University of Central Florida; Glenn David Garrison, Collin County Community College—
Spring Creek Campus; Stephen Kerbow, Southwest Texas Junior College; Brad Lockerbie, University of
Georgia; Donald Ranish, Antelope Valley College;
Jennifer Walsh, Azusa Pacific University; David Wigg, St. Louis Community College; and Teresa Wright, California State University—Long Beach; and Jonathan Roberts, Portland, OR, schools. Additional thanks go to Marc Siegal for his research assistance.
Preface xv
James Q. Wilson
James Q. Wilson now teaches at Pepperdine University. He is an emeritus professor of management and public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, and from 1961 to 1987 was a pro- fessor of government at Har- vard University. Raised in California, he received a B.A. degree from the Univer- sity of Redlands and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Wilson is the author or coauthor of fourteen books, including The Marriage Problem (2002), Moral Judgment (1997), The Moral Sense (1993), Bureau- cracy (1989), Crime and Human Nature (1985, with Richard J. Herrnstein), Thinking about Crime (1983), and Political Organizations (1974).
Wilson has served in a number of advisory posts in the federal government. He was chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime in 1967, chairman of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse Prevention in 1972–1973, a member of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime in 1981, and a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advi- sory Board in 1986–1990.
In 1977 the American Political Science Association conferred on him the Charles E. Merriam Award for advancing the art of government through the applica- tion of social science knowledge and in 1990 the James Madison Award for distinguished scholarship. In 1991–1992 he was President of the Association.
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philo- sophical Society. When not writing, teaching, or ad- vising, he goes scuba diving. In 2003 Wilson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this nation’s high- est civilian award.
John J. DiIulio, Jr.
John J. DiIulio, Jr. is a profes- sor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.
From 1986 to 1999, he was a professor of politics and pub- lic affairs at Princeton Uni- versity’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and Interna- tional Affairs. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Pennsyl- vania and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Uni- versity. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books, including Godly Republic (2007); Medicaid and Devolution (1998, with Frank Thompson); Deregulat- ing the Public Service (1994) and Governing Prisons (1987).
DiIulio advised both Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush during the 2000 Presiden- tial campaign. While on leave in academic year 2000–
2001, he served as Assistant to the President of the United States. He has advised officials at the National Performance Review, the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, the U.S. De- partment of Justice, and other federal agencies. He has served on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and other nonprofit organizations.
In 1995 the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management conferred on him the David N.
Kershaw Award for outstanding research achievements and in 1987 he received the American Political Science Association’s Leonard D. White Award in public ad- ministration. In 1991–1994 he chaired the latter asso- ciation’s standing committee on professional ethics.
Since 2005 he has had a leading role in nonprofit ini- tiatives to assist post-Katrina New Orleans.
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A B O U T T H E A U T H O R Sxvi
P A R T I
The American System
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
★ Federalist No. 51
1
The Study of American
Government
What Is Political Power?
What Is Democracy?
Is Representative Democracy Best?
How Is Power Distributed?
Is Democracy Driven by Self-Interest?
What Explains Political Change?
The Nature of Politics
1
2
A
fter the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, it took the national govern- ment many years to implement just a fraction of the bipartisan homeland secu- rity policies and programs that nearly everybody favored (such as deploying super-high-tech bomb-detection devices at airports and tightening security for cargo ships, among numerous others). Indeed, a half-decade after the attacks, the failure to act expeditiously on national directives to reinforce vulnerable-to-attack levees and dams fig- ured in the devastation wrought when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast.What was behind these historic failures? The answer, you may be surprised to learn, is the same thing that was behind the government’s historic achievements in reducing poverty among the elderly, building the interstate highway system, improving public health, and rebuilding war-torn Europe. The answer is that sometimes things get done even when disunity reigns and power is divided between the parties.
The answer, in a word, is politics.
Politics exists in part because people normally differ about two things: who should govern, and the ends toward which they should work.
We want to know the answer to the first question because we believe that those who rule—their personalities and beliefs, their virtues and vices—will affect what they do to and for us. Many people think they already know the answer to the question, and they are prepared to talk and vote on that basis. That is their right, and the opinions they ex- press may be correct. But they may also be wrong. Indeed, many of these opinions must be wrong because they are in conflict. When asked, “Who governs?” some people will say “the unions” and some will say “big business”; others will say “the politicians,” “the people,” or “the special interests.” Still others will say “Wall Street,” “the military,”
“crackpot liberals,” “the media,” “the bureaucrats,” or “white males.” Not all these an- swers can be correct—at least not all of the time.
The answer to the second question is important because it tells us how government affects our lives. We want to know not only who governs, but what difference it makes who governs. In our day-to-day lives we may not think government makes much dif- ference at all. In one sense that is right, because our most pressing personal concerns—
work, play, love, family, health—are essentially private matters on which government touches but slightly. But in a larger and longer perspective government makes a sub- stantial difference. Consider: in 1935, 96 percent of all American families paid no fed- eral income tax, and for the 4 percent or so who did pay, the average rate was only about 4 percent of their incomes. Today almost all families pay federal payroll taxes, and the average rate is 21 percent of their incomes. Or consider: in 1960, in many parts of the country, African Americans could ride only in the backs of buses, had to use washrooms and drinking fountains that were labeled “colored,” and could not be served in most pub- lic restaurants. Such restrictions have been almost eliminated, in large part because of decisions by the federal government.
★
W H O G O V E R N S ?
1. How is political power actually dis- tributed in America?
2. What explains major political change?
★
T O W H A T E N D S ?
1. What value or values matter most in American democracy?
2. Are trade-offs among political pur- poses inevitable?
3
It is important to bear in mind that we wish to an- swer two different questions, and not two versions of the same question. You cannot always predict what goals government will establish knowing only who governs, nor can you always tell who governs by knowing what activities government undertakes. Most people holding national political office are middle- class, middle-aged, white Protestant males, but we cannot then conclude that the government will adopt only policies that are to the narrow advantage of the middle class, the middle-aged, whites, Protestants, or men. If we thought that, we would be at a loss to explain why the rich are taxed more heavily than the poor, why the War on Poverty was declared, why constitutional amendments giving rights to African Americans and women passed Congress by large majorities, or why Catholics and Jews have been ap- pointed to so many important governmental posts.
This book is chiefly devoted to answering the question, Who governs? It is written in the belief that this question cannot be answered without looking at how government makes—or fails to make—decisions about a large variety of concrete issues. Thus in this book we shall inspect government policies to see what individuals, groups, and institutions seem to exert the greatest power in the continuous struggle to define the purposes of government. We shall see that power and purpose are inextricably intertwined.
★ What Is Political Power?
By power we mean the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions. Sometimes an exercise of power is obvious, as when the president tells the air force that it cannot build a new bomber or orders soldiers into combat in a foreign land. Some claim it is exer- cised in subtle ways that may not be evident even to the participants, as when the president’s junior speechwriters, reflecting their own evolving views, adopt a new tone when writing for their boss about controversial social issues like abortion. The speechwriters may not think they are using power—after all, they are the president’s subor- dinates and may rarely see him face-to-face. But if the power The ability
of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions.
authority The right to use power.
president lets their words exit his mouth in public, they have used power.
Power is found in all human relationships, but we shall be concerned here only with power as it is used to affect who will hold government office and how government will behave. This fails to take into ac- count many important things. If a corporation closes a factory in a small town where it was the major em- ployer, it is using power in ways that affect deeply the lives of people. When a university refuses to admit a student or a medical society refuses to license a would-be physician, it is also using power. But to ex- plain how all these things happen would be tanta- mount to explaining how society as a whole, and in all its particulars, operates. We limit our view here to government, and chiefly to the American federal gov- ernment. However, we shall repeatedly pay special at- tention to how things once thought to be “private”
matters become “public”—that is, how they manage to become objects of governmental action. Indeed, one of the most striking transformations of Ameri- can politics has been the extent to which, in recent decades, almost every aspect of human life has found its way onto the governmental agenda. In the 1950s the federal government would have displayed no in- terest in a factory closing its doors, a university refus- ing an applicant, or a profession not accrediting a member. Now government actions can and do affect all these things.
People who exercise political power may or may not have the authority to do so. By authority we mean the right to use power. The exercise of rightful power—that is, of authority—is ordinarily easier than the exercise of power that is not supported by any persuasive claim of right. We accept decisions, of- ten without question, if they are made by people who we believe have the right to make them; we may bow to naked power because we cannot resist it, but by our recalcitrance or our resentment we put the users of naked power to greater trouble than the wielders of authority. In this book we will on occasion speak of
“formal authority.” By this we mean that the right to exercise power is vested in a governmental office. A president, a senator, and a federal judge have formal authority to take certain actions.
What makes power rightful varies from time to time and from country to country. In the United States we usually say that a person has political authority if his or her right to act in a certain way is conferred by
a law or by a state or national constitution. But what makes a law or constitution a source of right? That is the question of legitimacy. In the United States the Constitution today is widely, if not unanimously, ac- cepted as a source of legitimate authority, but that was not always the case.
Much of American political history has been a struggle over what constitutes legitimate authority.
The Constitutional Convention in 1787 was an effort to see whether a new, more powerful federal govern- ment could be made legitimate; the succeeding ad- ministrations of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were in large measure preoc- cupied with disputes over the kinds of decisions that were legitimate for the federal government to make.
The Civil War was a bloody struggle over the legiti- macy of the federal union; the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt was hotly debated by those who disagreed over whether it was legitimate for the federal govern- ment to intervene deeply in the economy. In our own day, even many citizens who take the same view on a hot-button question like gay marriage disagree over whether it is legitimate to address the issue through an amendment to the Constitution that bans it na- tionally or whether the matter ought to be left for each state to decide.
On one thing, however, virtually all Americans seem to agree: no exercise of political power by government
at any level is legitimate if it is not in some sense dem- ocratic. That was hardly always the prevailing view.
In 1787, as the Constitution was being debated, Alexander Hamil- ton worried that the new gov- ernment he helped create might be too democratic, while George Mason, who refused to sign the
What Is Political Power? 5
To enter the United States, foreigners must now produce a photograph and fingerprints.
legitimacy Political authority conferred by law or by a state or national constitution.
Government’s Greatest Achievements: A Top Ten List
Based on a survey of 450 history and political science professors and an analysis of over 500 public statutes, here is one list of the government’s top ten post-1950 achievements.
10. Promoted financial security in retirement 9. Reduced the federal budget deficit
8. Increased access to health care for older Americans
7. Strengthened the nation’s highway system 6. Ensured safe food and drinking water 5. Reduced workplace discrimination 4. Reduced disease
3. Promoted equal access to public accommodations 2. Expanded the right to vote
1. Rebuilt Europe after World War II
As you read this book and study American govern- ment, ponder what might be on the top ten list for the first quarter of the twenty-first century.
Source: Adapted from Paul C. Light, “Government’s Greatest Achievements of the Past Half Century,” Reform Watch Brief #2, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., November 2000. Reprinted by permission of the Brook- ings Institution.
Constitution, worried that it was not democratic enough. Today, however, almost everyone believes that democratic government is the only proper kind. Most people believe that American government is dem- ocratic; some believe that other institutions of public life—schools, universities, corporations, trade unions, churches—should also be run on democratic principles if they are to be legitimate; and some insist that promoting democracy abroad ought to be a primary purpose of U.S. foreign policy.
Whether democracy is the best way of governing all institutions and whether promoting democracy either has been or ought to be a major objective of U.S. foreign pol-
icy are both worthwhile questions. The former ques- tion goes beyond the scope of this book, but we will touch upon the latter question later in the text.
★ What Is Democracy?
Democracy is a word with at least two different meanings. First, the term democracy is used to de- scribe those regimes that come as close as possible to Aristotle’s definition—the “rule of the many.”1 A gov- ernment is democratic if all, or most, of its citizens participate directly in either holding office or making policy. This is often called direct or participatory democracy. In Aristotle’s time—Greece in the fourth century B.C.—such a government was possible.
The Greek city-state, or polis, was quite small, and within it citizenship was extended to all free adult male property holders. (Slaves, women, minors, and those without property were excluded from partici- pation in government.) In more recent times the New England town meeting approximates the Aristotelian ideal. In such a meeting the adult citizens of a com- munity gather once or twice a year to vote directly on all major issues and expenditures of the town. As towns have become larger and issues more compli- cated, many town governments have abandoned the pure town meeting in favor of either the representa- tive town meeting (in which a large number of elected representatives, perhaps two or three hun- dred, meet to vote on to
